Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T07:03:12.329Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Epistemic Cultures of Science and Wikipedia: A Comparison

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2012

K. Brad Wray
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

I compare the epistemic culture of Wikipedia with the epistemic culture of science, with special attention to the culture of collaborative research in science. The two cultures differ markedly with respect to (1) the knowledge produced, (2) who produces the knowledge, and (3) the processes by which knowledge is produced. Wikipedia has created a community of inquirers that are governed by norms very different from those that govern scientists. Those who contribute to Wikipedia do not ground their claims on their reputations as knowers, for they stand to lose nothing if and when their contributions are found to be misleading or false. And the immediacy of the medium encourages gossip and jokes. Hence, though we have some reason to believe that an invisible hand aids scientists in realizing their epistemic goals, we cannot ground our confidence in what is reported on Wikipedia on the fact that an invisible hand ensures quality. Nor is the information on Wikipedia aptly justified in a manner similar to the way testimony can be justified.

Type
Research Article
Information
Episteme , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , February 2009 , pp. 38 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Andersen, D. 2006. “Does Wikipedia Hurt Scholarship?: It Promotes Sloppy, First-hit Student Research.” On Campus 26(2): 4.Google Scholar
Biagioli, M. 2003. “Rights or Rewards? Changing Frameworks of Scientific Authorship.” In Biagioli, M. and Galison, P., (eds.), Scientific Authorship: Credit and Intellectual Property in Science, pp. 253–79. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Brown, J. R. 2001. Who Rules in Science?: An Opinionated Guide to the Wars. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Cole, S. 1992. Making Science: Between Nature and Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Deb, K., Sivaguru, M., Tong, H. Y., and Roberts, R. M.. 2006. “Cdx2 Gene Expression and Trophectoderm Lineage Specification inMouse Embryos.” Science 311(5763): 992–6.Google Scholar
Fallis, D. 2008. “Toward an Epistemology of Wikipedia.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 59(10): 1662–74.Google Scholar
Feyerabend, P. 1988. Against Method. Revised edition. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Foley, R. 1994. “Egoism in Epistemology.” In Schmitt, F. (ed.), Socializing Epistemology: The Social Dimensions of Knowledge, pp. 53–73. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Fuller, S. 2000. The Governance of Science. Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Giles, J. 2005. “Internet Encyclopaedias go Head to Head.” Nature 438: 900–1.Google Scholar
Hardwig, J. 1985. “Epistemic Dependence.” Journal of Philosophy 82: 335–49.Google Scholar
Hull, D. L. 1988. Science as a Process: An Evolutionary Account of the Social and Conceptual Development of Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hull, D. L. 2001. Science and Selection: Essays on Biological Evolution and the Philosophy of Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hume, D. 1748/1977. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Steinberg, E. (ed.). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.Google Scholar
Kitcher, P. 1997. “An Argument About Free Inquiry.” Nous 31: 279–306.Google Scholar
Knorr, Cetina K. 1999. Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kuhn, T. S. 1996. Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Third edition. Chicago: University Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Latour, B. 1987. Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Latour, B. and Woolgar, S.. 1986. Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts. Second edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. 1942. “The Normative Structure of Science.” InMerton (1973), pp. 267–78.Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. 1957. “Priorities in Scientific Discovery.” In Merton (1973), pp. 286–324.Google Scholar
Merton, R. K. 1973. The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Storer, N.W. (ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mill, J. S. 1859/1956. On Liberty. Shields, C. V. (ed.). New York: The Liberal Arts Press.Google Scholar
Nozick, R. 1974. Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Roberts, R. M., Sivaguru, M., and Yong, H. Y.. 2007. “Retraction.” Science 317(5837): 450.Google Scholar
Ross, S. 2008. “Wikipedia and the History of Science.” Newsletter of the History of Science Society 37(1): 1, 6.Google Scholar
Seelye, K. Q. 2005. “A Little Sleuthing Unmasks Writer of Wikipedia Prank.” New York Times, December 11. Retrieved September 8, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/business/media/11web.htmlGoogle Scholar
Seigenthaler, J. 2005. “A False Wikipedia ‘Biography’.” USA Today, November 29. Retrieved January 17, 2008, from http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-29-wikipedia-edit_x.htmGoogle Scholar
Shapin, S. 1994. A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Smith, A. 1776/1970. The Wealth of Nations. London: J. M. Dent and Sons.Google Scholar
Thagard, P. 1999. How Scientists Explain Disease. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Thagard, P. 2006. “How to Collaborate: Procedural Knowledge in the Cooperative Development of Science.” Southern Journal of Philosophy 44: 177–96.Google Scholar
Tollefsen, D. 2007. “Group Testimony.” Social Epistemology 21(3): 299–311.Google Scholar
Wikipedia contributors. “Wikipedia: About.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 8, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:AboutGoogle Scholar
Wray, K. B. 2000. “Invisible Hands and the Success of Science.” Philosophy of Science 67: 163–75.Google Scholar
Wray, K. B. 2001. “Science, Biases, and the Threat of Global Pessimism.” Philosophy of Science 68(Proceedings): S467–78.Google Scholar
Wray, K. B. 2002. “The Epistemic Significance of Collaborative Research.” Philosophy Science 69: 150–68.Google Scholar
Wray, K. B. 2006. “Scientific Authorship in the Age of Collaborative Research.” Studies History and Philosophy of Science 37(3): 505–14.Google Scholar
Wray, K. B. 2007. “Who has Scientific Knowledge?” Social Epistemology 21(3): 337–47.Google Scholar